Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about how I got inspired yesterday by some drooping leaves. Now before you decide that I must have a low threshold for inspiration an explanation is in order. Rhododendron plants hang onto their long green leaves throughout the freezing winter. While over 1,000 different kinds of flowering plants in the Smoky mountains disappear as winter approaches the mighty rhododendron stand tall and proud. Wildflowers wilt and then retreat to hide in the ground rather than deal with icy cold weather. Those sissies of the forest don’t even usually show up until it’s at least 70 degrees with a slight breeze! Sure, there is at least one wildflower that has some courage and will bloom through the snow, the alpine sunflower out in the Rockies, but it only blooms once every twelve to thirty years and then dies. I’m not kidding!
I’ve got to call it as I see it. Flowers and trees are fair weather friends. Mighty wimpy oak trees shed their leaves long before winter arrives, close up shop and basically hibernate for the season. They just stand there stark naked. If you look closely you’ll notice that they do look a bit embarrassed. If an oak tree could walk or hitch hike it would probably spend its winters at the beach. Rhododendron plants stand as the inspirational King of the Forest.
Rhododendron hang onto their leaves throughout the flu season and remind us that “green” will once again flood the forest floor. They offer hope on a bleak and wintry day. Our mountains would be dressed in basic black and white without the beautiful green rhododendron-lined roads and trails (with all due respect to those needled trees). The tough plants grow in harsh rocky soil and are sometimes so thick that you can’t hike through them. The gnarly branches and trunks sometimes intertwine into a kind of rhododendron jungle. Pioneers called such thickets “laurel hell” and story has it that a guy named Huggins disappeared into a stand of rhododendron above Alum Cave trail and was never seen again. That area is still known as “Huggins’ hell.”
Pioneers used the rhododendron as outside thermometers. At 32 degrees the leathery leaves begin to darken and droop, at 20 degrees they roll up, and at 0 degrees they roll up as tight as a pencil. How cool is that? Indians believed a rhododendron leaf placed over the forehead would fix a headache. With headaches gone they carved its wood into pipes and spoons and toys. Bears use the branches and leaves for bedding in their dens. Me? I just stare at ‘em and get inspired.
Rosebay rhododendron are the most common in the mountains at lower elevations and have a whitish pinkish flower while the higher elevation Catawba rhododendron flowers are famously purple. Rhododendrons bloom each year in June-August with huge flowers, but every 2-4 years or so something magical happens that scientists cannot explain. It is called a “big bloom” when the plants absolutely explode with humongous flowers. No one knows when it will happen. I’m thinking maybe this year would be good timing for us.
It would be so much easier for a rhododendron to just take the easy way out and drop its leaves to the ground like everyone else in the forest, but instead it hangs onto them for us to enjoy. I’m glad they do because I really need that winter green. If you think your job is tough, be thankful you are not a rhododendron leaf!
A rhododendron has strength, beauty and courage as it faces the trials of winter. When times get cold birds fly south, flowers retreat, leafy trees hang it up and even monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico. A rhododendron sticks it out and is an inspiring symbol of perseverance and dependability. With all due respect for tree huggers… how about a little love for that plant that drapes our mountains in awesome greenery year-round? It’s not easy staying green. That is just how it looks from my log cabin.
John LaFevre is a local speaker and co-author of the interactive national park hiking book series, Scavenger Hike Adventures (new: Shenandoah National Park/Summer 2009) Contact John at scavengerhike@aol.com. Artist G. Webb illustrates the national book series and lives in Pittman Center, Tennessee. Gwebbgallery.com.
